There are dozens of painted electrical boxes in Belfast – a small sample is presented here. (Please send us your pictures of ones we don’t have.)

The practice of painting street art on utility boxes is one found around the world and has been enthusiastically taken up by city councils and municipal bodies – a programme in Colorado dates back to 2004 (WP).

The fact that these programmes are administered (and funded) by municipalities has led some to question them – here is a 2017 plea to stop the practice: “this bizarre trend has less to do with beautification than it does with cities wanting to take control of street art, to make it sanctioned, palatable, institutional, and toothless”.

There are a few early examples of painted boxes but the practice was made mainstream in Belfast with the “Belfast Canvas” programme supported by Belfast City Council in 2019. A number of artists painted boxes that year when they were in town for Hit The North (a street art festival), and more artists were subsequently hired to add more, such as Danni Simpson in the summer of 2021 (Belfast Live) and Rob Hilken in March 2022 (Rob Hilken).

It is not clear that the painted boxes beyond the city centre have any connection to Belfast Canvas or any public funding.

To be clear, these are electical boxes painted with street art – sectarian markings are sometimes put on electrical boxes. Here are a few: UVF | IRA | BRY

City Centre

East Belfast

West Belfast – CNR

West Belfast – PUL

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Key to reference numbers. Thanks to the following for the use of their images.

T = Paddy Duffy
X = Extramural Activity

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Copyright © 2023 Extramural Activity. Images are copyright of their respective photographers.

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